AI is a horizontal enabling layer

07 Jan 2025

Many companies and people are touting that they use AI in some form or another. Focusing on AI as the thing, forgetting people want what the product/service enables.

“It’s a horizontal enabling layer, it can be used to improve everything. It is most like electricity.” Jeff Bezos

People didn’t just want electricity, they wanted to light their home. Real value is created through selling something people want.

So where lies the opportunity of marketing?

Between the commoditised core and the blurry grey edges of the future.

The core being the stuff that is repeatable, time consuming and can be commoditised. This will be dominated by the major tech platforms.

Think 15 insights in 1.5 seconds, 2000 assets in 2.9 seconds, media optimisation in 3.2 seconds. In reality, this is already happening…

It will be about balancing a deep understanding of the core - how to use, manipulate, implement and scale it. Helping businesses achieve higher growth at a lower cost.

With the moonshots, the out of the box, the real tricky stuff. Crafting new ways of seeing, forging fresh perspectives and unearthing the unusual & unexpected.

It’s mixing our own critical thinking, creative ingenuity, and emotional intelligence… all our glorious messiness with the machine of efficiency, greater effectiveness and the ability to do more with less.

It’s in this tension, this moment of change, we will find new magic.

It’s how brands will win. It’s how they’re going to punch above their weight. It’s how they’re going to unlock huge sustained growth.

It’s our new operational long and short of it.

Image credit: Fox Photos / Getty / Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty / The Atlantic